'Devastating'

Chicago firefighters carry an injured comrade from the scene of a blaze Wednesday at an abandoned commercial building on the South Side. Two firefighters were killed and 17 hurt when a roof collapsed. (E. Jason Wambsgans, Chicago Tribune)

It would have been safer for Chicago firefighters Edward Stringer and Corey Ankum to battle the burning building from a distance Wednesday morning, to shrug it off as a long-abandoned South Shore laundry business where no one worked or lived.

But that's not who they were.

Concerned that homeless people may have been taking refuge from the cold, Stringer and Ankum were among the firefighters searching the burning building around daybreak when a roof came crashing down on them. Both men died of blunt force injuries, while 17 others were hurt in the department's deadliest fire in more than a dozen years.

Steven Ellerson was part of a group of firefighters on the roof when it collapsed, his brother Maurice Matthews said. As Ellerson lay injured in the rubble, he heard Ankum, a former Chicago police officer who had joined the Fire Department 18 months ago, calling for help.

Minutes later, a rare "Mayday" call went out from the one-story brick laundry building in the 1700 block of East 75th Street. The distress signal served as a chilling indication that firefighters were buried under the debris, according to a source who heard the call.

"Mayday. Mayday. Emergency. … Collapse in the rear of the building. Building came down. We've got guys trapped," a chief officer on the scene radioed to the fire dispatch office.

Ellerson found a gasping Ankum trapped in the debris and struggling to breathe, Matthews said. Ellerson whipped off his mask and placed it near Ankum's mouth in an effort to get oxygen to him. He wanted to give him his coat to keep warm, but the veteran firefighter was pulled from the building before he had the chance, Matthews said.

"My brother didn't want to leave him, but there was no choice," he said.

Dozens of firefighters who rushed to the scene tunneled through the debris to excavate four comrades — including Stringer and Ankum — trapped underneath the charred rubble. They also searched for squatters who might have been in the abandoned building but found none, officials said.

After freeing the four men, firefighters, their faces and uniforms covered in soot, embraced one another and shook their heads in disbelief.

"Every firefighter that was there did the best they could to save their brothers," fire Commissioner Robert Hoff told reporters.

As of Wednesday night, 12 of the 17 injured firefighters had been released from area hospitals. None of the five still hospitalized had a life- threatening injury, officials said.

Police closed down a portion of Lake Shore Drive during the morning commute as an ambulance rushed Stringer, 47, to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The 12-year department veteran was pronounced dead a short time later.

His friends and neighbors remembered Stringer as a caring man who liked to quip that he ran into burning buildings when other people ran away from them. The father of two adult children lived on Chicago's Southwest Side with his dog, Roscoe.

"He loved his job," his former girlfriend Michelle Field said. "He would do anything."

Ankum, 34, was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died. He had joined the department in 2009, fulfilling a desire to become a Chicago firefighter like one of his closest family members.

That same relative, Gerald Glover, rushed to the scene Wednesday after hearing about the blaze within blocks of his engine company. On arriving, Glover walked into the building as firefighters were working furiously to cut open the collapsed roof.

As they removed a small portion, Glover said he immediately recognized Ankum's face underneath.

"He loved helping people," said Glover, who has been a firefighter for 25 years and recently bought a house across the street from Ankum in the Chatham neighborhood. "He didn't have to know you to help you. Anything you would ask of him, he would do. It's a loss, that's all I can say. It's a loss."

By late morning, Glover was among the dozens of firefighters and family members who gathered in the swirling snow outside the Oak Lawn hospital to share their grief. The mourners stood at attention, saluting with their hats in their hands, as Ankum's body was shuttled by police escort to the Cook County medical examiner's office. That solemn tribute was repeated when Stringer's body was carried out of Northwestern Memorial.

"They died doing the job they loved," said Tom Ryan, president of the city's firefighters union, who called the losses "devastating."

"The citizens of Chicago were very lucky to have them," he said.

Mayor Richard Daley's eyes filled with tears Wednesday evening as he spoke about the sacrifice Stringer and Ankum made.

"Our first responders put their lives on the line every day," he said. "We must remember that their sacrifice (is) selflessly given in the spirit of saving the lives of the citizens of the city of Chicago. Each and every time we lose a member of the police and fire department, we lose part of Chicago's history."